Corn-popping machine.



D. H. TALBERT.

CORN POPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FI'LED AUG.9, 1915. v mwmm Patented July 17, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Fig. 1.

WITNESSES: l/Vl/E/VTOR Dani H. Talbert.

y. ///w4 I .D. H. TALBERT.

CORN POPPING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-9. ms.

7 1 9 1 7. 1 m M m aw M Di 2 SHEETSSHEET 2- l/Vl/E/VTOR banw H. Tenbert.

WI T ll/ESSES:

A TTOR/VEY DANIEL I-I. TALBERT, 0F INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR T0HOLOOIVIB 8c I-IOKE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

CORN-POPPING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL H. TALBERT, a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Indianapolis, county of Marion, and State of Indiana,have invented a certain new and useful Corn-Popping Machine; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,in which like letters refer to like parts.

This application is a divisionfrom a prior application filed Jan. 9th,1915, which resulted in Letters Patent #1,165,556 granted Dec. 28th,1915.

The object of this invention is to improve and simplify the constructionand operation of continuously operating corn popping machines and enablethem to reduce the waste of unpopped corn.

One feature of the invention consists in the means for separating theunpopped corn from the popped corn at the discharge end of the poppingplate and consists in there being longitudinal slots at that end of thepopping plate through which the unpopped corn can fall, but the poppedcorn cannot pass and fingers revolving in said slots moving upwardthrough the inner ends of the slots, lifting the material above so as toeffectively separate the unpopped corn and enable it to pass downthrough the slots. Said revolving fingers also move and feed the cornfrom the popping plate and discharge it over the end thereof.

Another feature of the invention consists in providing a chain curtainabove the discharge end of the poppingv plate and which permits saidfingers to move the popped corn through the lower portion of the curtainand discharge same from the popping plate.

The full nature of the invention will be understood from theaccompanying drawings and the following description and claims:

In the drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is acentral vertical section through the popper. Fig. 3 is a section on theline 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the machine.

A stand 10 has upon it a glass case 11 having a wooden top 12. A hopper,not shown is mounted on the top 12 of the casing and has a dischargechute 16 extending Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 17, 1917.

1,355. Divided and this application filed August 9,

Serial No. 44,574.

down to the po nin means below the to 12 of the casing l l. b p

There are supports 26 which extend down fronrthe top 12 of the casingwhereby a popplng casing 27 is supported. This cas- 111g has a closedtop with a corn inlet 28 into which the lower end of the chute 16proects and through which it discharges the corn.

The corn first falls on the preheating plate 30 which is inclined sothat the corn may travel by gravity very slowly from the end thereofupon which it is deposited to the other end. This plate is above theheater 31 so that it is kept hot and it is shaken in order to keep thecorn moving and prevent it from becoming too hot at one point. The highend of the preheating plate is supported by a pair of springs, notshown. The lower end of the plate 30 is pivotally supported on the upperend of a spring bar 33 Y which is secured at its lowerend to a companionspring bar 84, which is pivoted at its upper end to van arm 35 pivotedat 36 in the casing 27 and an adjusting bar 37 extends outside the caseand is held in adjusted position by a segmental rack bar 38, wherebysaid plate 30 is reciprocally supported so that its lower end may bevertically adjusted to change its inclination and the movement of thecorn. Said plate is given a quick rearward movement by a connectingspring bar 40, one end of which is secured to said plate and the otherend pivoted to a crank 41 extending up from a shaft 42, as shown in Fig.4. There is an arm 43 extending from the outer end of said shaft 42 inposition to be engaged by a diametrical rod or arm 44 on a shaft 45which is driven by a belt 46 from a'motor 21, as shown in Fig. 1, ateach half revolution of the shaft 45. Therefore, the preheating plate 30is given a sudden rearward movement and then it is quickly returned bythe springs 32 to its normal position and said movement isconstantlyrepeated so as to shake the plate in a jerky manner and causethe slow travel of the corn on its plate.

The timing of the movement of the corn over the preheating plate iseffected by elevating and lowering the forward end of the plate whichmay be accomplished by turning the bar 36 to which is rigidly con nectedthe bar 35. .The corn does not pop on the plate 30 but merely becomespreheated and to a rather high degree of temperature so that it is aboutready to pop. It falls over the lower end and advancing edge of thepreheating plate and descends upon a popping plate 50 which, in thismachine, is stationary. The movement ofthe popcorn over the poppingplate is efiected by twocoiiperating means. In the first place there isan agitating frame reciprocated upon the popping plate and consisting ofnot shown, from the motor 21.

Cooperating with the frame there is an endless drag conveyer formed oflateral sprocket chains 60 and transverse sagging chains 68. Theconveyer operates. on pulleys 62 secured on a shaft 64 at the other end.Said shaft 64: is mounted in the slots 65 in the end of aframe 66, whichextends.

rearwardly of the main frame and springs 67 are mounted between theframe 27 and the cross bar of said frame 66 so that the springs tend toforce the frame 66 away from the frame 27 and this holds the belt taut.

This drag conveyer is so mounted that the sagging chains 68 drag thepopped corn over the popping plate to the discharge end. As thisoperation is in progress, the

shot is gradually moved by the movement of the popped corn over thecross bars 52 of the agitating frame and said cross bars tend to.resistthis action. The drag chains do not touch the popping plate 50,but drags the popped corn and, indirectly, the shot over the, cross bars52 of the agitating frame. Atthe left hand end of said agitating framesaid cross bars are beveled, so

that the shot can be more readily moved overthe first few bars, but thebevel diminishes from bar to bar in the progress of the shot so thatthey increasingly tend to resist the feeding movement of the shot, overthe popping plate. This is to keep the shot agitated and moving in thesame direction as the popped corn, but to bring it repeatedly down uponthe popping plate for the purpose of effectuallypopping it before itleaves thepopping plate. The side bars 51 of the agitating framearebeveled to prevent the accumulation of shot thereon.

The agitating frame and the drag conveyer cooperate together so well onthe stationary popping platethat it is impossible for any popcorncapable of popping to avoid being popped for ample opportunity is giventhe same to be preheated and afterward popped.

When the popped corn and shot, if there be any shot, reaches thedischarge end of the popping plate 50, the shot drops down through theslots 70, see Fig. 8, into a shot receptacle 71. The popped corn is toolarge to enter said slots, and,

therefore, they pass on over the down turned end of the plate 50, asseen in Fig. 1, and are discharged upon an inclined plate 72 which leadsto the buttering means. To facilitate the separation of the shot fromthe popped corn, a series of arms 7-l with backwardly turned ends iscentrally mounted on a shaft 75, so the arms rotate through the slots70, going through the inner ends of said slots upwardly and thus liftingthe shot and popped corn so that the shot will separate and fall throughthe slots and thepopped corn will be carried on to the discharge end ofthe plate 50.

To prevent the popped corn and the shot kicked up by the popped cornduring the explosions from escaping, a baffle plate 17 5 is secured tothe underside of the preheating plate 30. There is a chain curtain 7 6suspended over the series of slots and in position to be engaged by therotating arms 74:. Said arms passing in their rotation through thecurtain prevents the corn frOm popping over the discharge end of thepopping plate. Gas is supplied to the heater 31 through a pipe and mixer81.

The invention claimed is:

1. In a popcorn machine, a substantially horizontal plate. adapted toreceive the popped and unpopped corn, the end of said plate beingprovided with longitudinal slots, and agitating means adapted to bemoved upward through the forward portion of said slots for agitating thepopped and unpopped corn and enabling the unpopped corn to pass downthrough said slots and to move rearwardly through said slots at the endof said plate for discharging the popped corn therefrom.

2. In a popcorn machine, a popping plate with the rear end thereoflongitudinally slotted, means movable longitudinally on said plate forconveying popped and unpopped corn to the slotted end thereof, andagitating means adapted to be moved upward through the forward portionof said slots for agitating the popped and unpopped corn and enablingthe unpopped corn to pass down through said slots and to move rearwardlythrough said slots at the end of said plate for discharging the poppedcorn therefrom. 1

3. In a popcorn machine, a slotted plate adapted to receive the poppedand unpopped corn, a shaft mounted immediately below said slotted plate,fingers on said shaft adapted to rotate through said slots, means forrotating said shaft so that said fingers Copies of this patent may beobtained for five cents each, by addressing the will pass upwardlythrough the portion of the slotted plate which first receives the poppedand unpopped corn for separating the unpopped corn and feeding thepopped corn forward over said plate, and a chain curtain suspended oversaid plate in position for the fingers during their upward movement topass between the chains at the lower part of the curtain. v

In witness whereof, I have hereunto affixed my signature in the presenceof the witness herein named.

' DANIEL H. TALBERT.

Witness R. G. LOOKWOOD.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

